Fewer students to take gaokao

The number of applicants for China's national college entrance examination, or gaokao, in Beijing has declined for the eighth consecutive year in 2014, with about 70,000 registrations, 2,000 fewer than in 2013, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Sunday.

"The decline is mainly due to a fall in the number of high school students," Chu Zhaohui, a research fellow from the National Institute of Education Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.

In fact, the nationwide figure for gaokao participants has also declined over the years, from the peak of 10.5 million candidates in 2008 to 9.15 million in 2012, according to an earlier Global Times report.

Many experts echoed Chu's view and attributed the national downward trend to the baby bust in the 1990s. Others believed that factors such as some students from rural areas gave up on on gaokao due to the fear of failing the exam, not being able to afford the tuition fees or not getting a suitable job after graduation also contributed to the decline.

At the same time, more young people are choosing to study abroad and take other exams necessary to enter foreign universities.

"The number of students choosing to study aboard will continue to rise in the coming years with the rising affluence and more open-minded attitude toward education among Chinese families," said Zhao Jing, director of the Compubridge Research Institute of College Planning.

The admission rate for gaokao in Beijing this year is predicted to be 81 percent, Yuan Huailian, director of gaokao admissions office with the Beijing Education Examinations Authority, said on a program of the Beijing Public Service Radio Saturday.

The gaokao admission rate in Beijing has stayed around 80 percent to 85 percent in recent years, The Beijing News reported earlier, noting that in 2010, it was above 84 percent.

Yuan also pointed out that the universities in Beijing have raised student intake targets in 2014 to 36,700 students, 1,281 more than last year, with the admission rate being predicted at around 57 percent. However, the colleges have cut their intake by 1,080 students.

"This shows that colleges in Beijing are trying to meet the demand of parents and students to attend universities," Chu said, noting that the threshold for admission into the colleges is very low now despite the decrease in the intake target.

Yuan said Beijing will adopt a new bonus point system for gaokao this year, with fewer items for extra points and lower points assigned to certain items. The specific number of students who can gain the points will be made public this week.

The system of bonus gaokao points has long been challenged for its lack of transparency and fairness. Previous policy breaches showed that it leaves room for abuse of power.

The gaokao will take place from June 7 to 8.